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Baali
The Baali are a bloodline of vampires associated with demon worship. Because of their affinity with the unholy, the Baali are particularly vulnerable to holy iconography, holy ground and holy water. They are highly vulnerable to True Faith. Some versions present the true purpose of the Baali as keeping demons sleeping by feeding them with carnage and destruction. But most presentations show them as Infernalists, using demon worship to gain additional power. They have a somewhat complex heritage, appearing at times as a bloodline and at times as a clan. There is some indication that they may be a bloodline of the Salubri, Cappadocians, or Lasombra, although one earlier source suggested they may instead be descendants or even predecessors of the Gangrel line. They also recruit vampires from other clans to become Baali via a dark thaumaturgic initiation, further confusing the issue. History The origins of the Baali are shrouded in mystery and deceit; who are detailed in the Version Differences section below. What is certain is that the Baali are among the few things that caused the thirteen Clans to put away their differences and unite against them in various Baali Wars. The Baali are rumored to had a strong hold in ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Phoenicia, masquerading as one of the myriads of city gods to gain blood sacrifices for their dark masters. Baali-influence in Carthage, which rose to a peak once Troile and Moloch did become lovers and resulted in massive sacrifice ceremonies and bloody abominations, was what spurred the Ventrue of Rome to action against the Brujah and led them to salt even the earth around the city in order to bind whatever horrors the Baali had awoken. Many of the Baali, however, dispersed into the Roman society, practicing their vile craft in various mystery cults. Historically, the Assamites, Followers of Set, and Salubri have fought wars against the Baali. The Salubri and Assamites in particular have a deep seated hatred for the Baali. Some claim the Assamite Warriors current blood addiction can be traced to a curse leveled by the Baali. Dark Ages The advent of the monotheistic religions as major powerplayers put the Baali in serious danger, given that most of these religions disbanded their cults and other covers for their infernal rites and exposed their depravity to the world. Baali in the Medieval age were constantly on the run, hiding their practices and origin from other Cainites and dedicated on spreading corruption and disease (many Baali prospered in the times of the Black death, as many desperate victims turned to infernal powers in order to survive) to further the services to their dark masters. The growing rise of scriptures over their practices, however, slowly took the powers to invoke demons out of the hands from the Baali, something many of the younger Baali encouraged, while the Elders regarded it as foolish and dangerous. The Baali were prominent in the Islamic world at this time. They faced a series of attacks and counteroffensives from the Assamites, who raided their lairs and destroyed numerous Baali by exposing them to the sun. In the organ pit of Damascus, however, the Baali met to gain revenge on the Assassins for their persecution. With the aid of the demonic Decani, they placed a curse on the Warrior Caste of the Clan that filled them with a murderous hunger that could only be sated via Diablerie, thus tarnishing the Clan's image from its previous position of Warrior-scholars into a bunch of cannibalistic murderers for hire. Although their numbers were diminished by the Al-Amin, and many kindred were strengthened by Islam and the Ashirra, they managed to keep a corrupt hold in the area. Victorian Age The Inquisition nearly annihilated the bloodline, leading the surviving members to hide themselves within the newly formed sects and pose as other vampires, practicing their infernal arts in secrecy. In the Victorian age, the Baali had faded to a historical oddity, used to scare young Kindred and hold as a part fo the dangers of Infernalism. Baali Bloodline Final Nights In the Final Nights, the Baali have proven that they are still around. The capture and destruction of a cabal of North American infernalists (and subsequent recovery of their blasphemous grimoires) has brought to Kindred attention a looming shadowy truth: The Children of Baal were not wholly extinguished by the Inquisition, as was previously believed. And as Gehenna draws close, many foolish Kindred seek salvation from the thirsty Antediluvians by making pacts with demonic entities, thus allowing the Baali to regain their strength slowly, but steady. Culture The Baali are explorers, first and foremost – students of the unknown, the unknowable, the unspeakable. They will do almost anything and sacrifice almost anyone to gain access to occult mysteries. They squander the wealth they have accumulated, they make deals they cannot live up to and they do so with no apology and no attempt at excuse. They are, however, not Faustian bargainers, although many Baali neonates fall into that trap. They believe that the world is doomed, that the End Times are nigh and every sacrifice they make, every murder they incite, is one more chink in the dam holding back the deluge of blood called Gehenna. If they have to die to break that dam, so be it. As such, the Baali can be considered a doomsday cult. Sects Most Baali during the Dark Ages defined themselves after the first Three of their kind, the Nergali (named after Nergal, often called Orphans after Nergal's apparent disappearence after the first Baali War), the Molochim (named after Moloch) and obscure adherents of the Unnamed third progenitor. Each branch has different outlooks on their infernal work: The Nergali favored more direct and blatant acts, like the introduction of mortal occultists into their ranks and the spread of demonology, while the Molochim were more secretive and often inserted themselves into vampiric and mortal society. The followers of the Third Progenitor have been too insular to be pinned down, but some believe that the tenets of the insectoid Avatars of the Swarm and the Via Hyron stem from the third Progenitor. Other sects depicted the outlook of the mission of the Baali line. * The Destroyers: Often derided as mindless maniacs, the Destroyers seek to reduce Creation back to the infinite darkness that was before God created light. * The Celestials: These Baali seek to unravel the secrets of the cosmos to achieve apotheosis * The Children of Enigma: The Children of Enigma are another more scholarly bend, who seek the ultimate secrets of the universe * The Avatars of the Swarm: In contrast to the previous sects, the Swarm has a deciding more alien view of the world, seeing every mortal as a means to propagate the Swarm. They have a primal link to insects and other vermin, often filling their undead bodies with multitudes of them and using their ghouled vermin servants as means to draw mortals into the Swarm. They also entertained a small branch of the Cainite Heresy named the Swarm of Samael. Embraces The Baali usually only Embrace those who are intelligent and driven. Most who are Embraced into Clan Baali had interest in the occult during their mortal lives. The Embracing ritual of the Baali is one of their most disturbing rituals. A Baali will capture his or her prey and bring him or her to a site he or she has prepared. There will be a large pit, filled with dozens of decomposing bodies. The Baali drains his or her victim to near death and tosses him or her into the pit. In just one of the corpses the Baali hid their blood inside one of the corpses' heart. If the victim manages to find the heart before they die and drink the blood, they are considered worthy of becoming Baali. Ironically, this makes the Baali the only clan that regularly gives their victim the choice of becoming a vampire or choosing to die. The most infamous organ pit was founded in Damascus, where it was tended by the Methuselah Annazir. Organization All Baali have at least two identities, if not more. Among their own kind, they organize into small, tightly-knit groups called covens, usually in three or six. These covens meet only rarely, gathering only to perform some dark ritual or discuss matters of dire consequence. They prefer to meet under the new moon, though lunar eclipses hold great meaning for them and major rituals are performed at that time. Covens meet in secret places where their activities will not be disturbed, yet still within the city they wish to prepare. They frequently ally with Black Spiral Dancers and make use of their tainted caerns. A grand ritual involving both Baali and Black Spirals usually portends some great and awful occurrence. These meetings are few and far between, however. In the interim, Baali usually pose as upstanding members of either the Camarilla, Sabbat, or both, depending on who controls the city. Contrary to popular belief, they do not pose as Caitiff -- Caitiff are distrusted enough on general principle alone. Instead, they are far more devious, hiding behind a mask of blood passed down through millennia: they pose as Tremere. The blood of Saulot runs through Tremere's veins since his diablerie close to a thousand years ago. Now, almost all Tremere are descended from their founder, and therefore from Saulot himself. Only those with a high proficiency in Thaumaturgy can detect even a slight difference (Thau 5+, diff 9) and even then it is usually dismissed as a minor change in blood chemistry -- perhaps the vampire's sire was of House Bonisagus or Flambeaux. Reports of corruption deep within the Tremere hierarchy are scoffed at. Surely the Tremere, the masters of deception and manipulation, would know of a conspiracy within their ranks! But this conventional wisdom is wrong. With the immense occult resources of the Tremere, the Baali are gaining strength like never before. They have access to supplies, knowledge, and potential recruits. They have even started two secret orders within the clan: the Order of the Wyrm and the Illuminated Brotherhood. The Order of the Wyrm is the more mainstream of the two, the conservative front for the more radical Brotherhood. Through the Order, the Baali hope to attract Tremere who share some of their beliefs, who have the potential to be recruited, corrupted, or both. Once an applicant has progressed high enough in the Order, they are inducted into the Illuminated Brotherhood. Only after their corruption is complete, their turn to evil assured, do the Tremere meet their Baali masters -- and their masters' Masters. Sabbat Baali have an easier task in some ways, harder in others. While the vampires of the Sabbat have forsaken their Humanity, the Inquisition within the sect limits their activities. Whatever sect they belong to, however, the Baali are united in their cause. Their eventual goal is to turn both the Camarilla and the Sabbat to their infernal masters -- and if that doesn't work, to destroy them. Indeed, many Sabbat-Camarilla conflicts can be attributed to the machinations of Baali on both sides, destroying those who oppose them while garnering greater influence and power. After all, power is the name of the game. Factions Apostates The Baali recruit vampires from other clans into their ranks; such a successfully recruited vampire is called an Apostate. The Baali even have a dark thaumaturgic ritual commonly called the Rite of Apostasy which proves the recruit's loyalty to the Baali and grants the recruit the demonic Discipline of Daimoinon in place of one of their former Clan Disciplines. Effectively, there is a unique Baali bloodline for every Clan or bloodline who has had a former member undergo the Rite of Apostasy. This dark thaumaturgic ritual grants the Baali bloodline a "viral" property to laterally grow their ranks that no other Clan or bloodline is known to possess. The most populous bloodline of Apostates are the Lasombra known as the Angellis Ater. Angellis Ater The Angellis Ater (also sometimes referred to as the Black Angels) are a bloodline that has branched off of the Baali bloodline. Descended from the Baali Methuselah Angellis Ater, the Angellis Ater are dead-hearted, spiritually compromised diabolists even by the standards of the Baali. The Angellis Ater serve powers of shadow, and often work with the "Black Angels" of the Lasombra in pursuit of their goals. As masters of darkness, the Angellis Ater use the Discipline of Obtenebration in lieu of Daimoinon or Presence. However, Angellis Ater have surrendered much of themselves to the shadows that they serve: many of them have effectively lost their free will to their masters' desires.